Sli/xfire worth it?

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song414

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 7, 2006
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Hi all. First off I know it is a simple matter of what I use my computer for. Well let me start off by saying I am a poor high school student who has a job that pays minimum wage. I am doing the biggest upgrade I ever did. Now if I am going to invest in a sli motherboard then I better use it eventually. Anyways I am planning on buying a Dell 2405fpw or 2407fpw. Now I will use my computer for gaming/movies/internet/xbox360 hookup/ps3 hookup. Basically a multimedia center. Now I want to invest in a graphics card(or two) that can handle this monitor. I want to run all games on 1920x1200 with full settings (dont believe I should have AA at that resolution and maybe AF if it hinders performance. I don't want to spend more than 400$ maximum on video card(s). Now I plan on playing FEAR at that resolution as well as COD2. I will most likely buy a 7900 gt. Is that a good investment in the near future? I can save 40$ on a mobo by not getting sli. On top of that i dont have to invest on a 100-150$ PSU. Also what is the best budget mobo without sli? I was thinking the ASRock. It looks like a good investment. Should I go for that? How good is it for overclocking since I have a opty 165 and want to get 2.5-2.7ghz. Anyways I'm looking to save every penny I can.
 
SLI/Xfire isn't really worth it. The performance margin is so slim that I'd just get 1 card, you'd think for 2 $400+ video cards you get a heck of a video makeover, but it really isn't as perfoming as it should be.
 
It is worth it when the user wants to run 1900 x 1200 resolution with AA and AF.
 
I don't think it's worth it either. I'll probably change my mind when I want to game higher than 1600x1200 with no graphic related slow downs. My next rig will be crossfire capable but, unless I have an extra $500-600 bucks to throw away, it will have one GPU.
 
As for the problem at hand, I don't think you will get a 7900 GT for $400 when it comes out. You will have to wait a fair bit. Why not consider an X1900XT? It is already out, and by the time you are ready to buy, t may be within your pricerange. Also I find it strange how a high school student on minimum wage wants to get an Xbox360, PS3, Dell 2405FPW, with 7900 GTs in SLI and yet still wants to 'save every penny'. You realise if you go SLI or Crossfire, you will be spending about $700 minimum on graphic cards, if you bought a current gen card let alone next gen's cards. I'm not trying to troll or anything, but I don't think it is a smart move. If money is no object to you, by all means, but obviously it is and it would be much wiser to get a single X1900XT, X1900XTX or 7900 GT.
 
Shameless Liar said:
As for the problem at hand, I don't think you will get a 7900 GT for $400 when it comes out. You will have to wait a fair bit. Why not consider an X1900XT? It is already out, and by the time you are ready to buy, t may be within your pricerange. Also I find it strange how a high school student on minimum wage wants to get an Xbox360, PS3, Dell 2405FPW, with 7900 GTs in SLI and yet still wants to 'save every penny'. You realise if you go SLI or Crossfire, you will be spending about $700 minimum on graphic cards, if you bought a current gen card let alone next gen's cards. I'm not trying to troll or anything, but I don't think it is a smart move. If money is no object to you, by all means, but obviously it is and it would be much wiser to get a single X1900XT, X1900XTX or 7900 GT.
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ummm im getting the 360 and ps3 for free... second of all i never said i was getting dual 7900 gt's that is overkill I said 7800 gt's. If i wanted to i can get 2 of them for 500$ brand new retail. But i need a 100-150$ PSU. Also If the x1900xt is within my price range when the 7900 gt comes out and its marginally the same speed then i will get it.
 
You said 7900GT

I say don't bother... not because of performance gains, simply because you can't afford to and it's not worth straining your wallet for it. This kind of thing is tailored towards enthusiasts who can affoird it and want the best you can get, period. If you want some perspective, I could afford my second GTX if I wanted it, but realistically I don't think it's worth it. I'm a gamer, but there's a limit. One top end card is PLENTY.
 
In either case, you're paying full price for a card you'll get 50-75% performance from. That extra boost is worth it to people who want to be on the bleeding edge, bu an everyday person might want to reconsider paying full price for a card you're not getting full performance out of.
 
all i want is a card that can run the monitor's native resolution on games with max settings. No AA or AF of course. A 7900 gt is bare minimum to get acceptable fps my guess is for upcoming games. I was thinking about a 7800 gt but it does not cut it in games such as cod2 and fear.
 
The problem is you've picked a monitor with an extremely high native refresh rate. Once you buy a monitor like that, you'll be buying a new SLI or crossfire combo every year to keep newer games in that native resolution.

Either ditch the idea of the high res monitor, get used to the idea of buying a crossfire/sli setup once a year, or plan on using lower than native res with new games with that monitor once your rig is over a year old.

You talk about investing in computer hardware, but the concept doesn't really exist... unless you like the idea of your investments losing an easy 50% of their value per year.
 
But SLI / Crossfire isnt worth it at all. Price per perfromance difference isnt woth it.
 
RadCliffeX said:
But SLI / Crossfire isnt worth it at all. Price per perfromance difference isnt woth it.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on the dual card video solutions. I may have an SLi board but I have no intention of ever using SLi, I really can't justify doubling my cost for very little return on performance.
 
If you are running games at high enough resolution, detail, anti-alising and anisotrophy levels, then SLI or CrossFire can make a HUGH difference.

Two current games, F.E.A.R. and CoD2 which I play at 1600x1200 4aa/16af and maximum in games settings are simply not playable IMHO at those settings with even a single 7800 512 GTX. The X1900 might be close to doing it, but it would close.

Now enter SLI. The games run fine at those settings with 7800 512 GTX SLI. And especially with F.E.A.R., the game looks fantastic. I think that many who've said, F.E.A.R.'s graphics aren't all that great and and that the game is slow have not played it on a dual card system. In spots in looks so real, it's just incredible.

SLI, at least to me, is meant to give next gen performace with current gen hardware. It's not cheap or cost effective. But it will provide you with great image quality and performace, if you use high end cards.

On last thing, don't go cheap on the PSU. Of all the components in a system, that's one part that I would NEVER skimp on. I'm not saying go out and but a PC Power & Cooling 1KW PSU, but make sure that its a solid unit with a lot of positive feedback.

But if you're only in the $400 range for GPU's then its not even a consideration for that budget, unless you can get a deal on used hardware. I would just look at the best single card you can get for the money when you decide to buy, and don't even worry about SLI or CrossFire.
 
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